JP5826843B2 - Single belt omnidirectional treadmill - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a treadmill that can continue to walk in any direction without physically moving from one small area. The treadmill of the present invention, along with many other technologies, can significantly improve the immersion technology of immersion virtual reality.

  This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application No. 13 / 193,511 filed July 28, 2011 and to Provisional Application No. 61 / 400,535 filed July 29, 2010. Both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety).

  Various types of omnidirectional treadmills or devices with similar functions are known. One such treadmill is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,057,096, which, like a tank tread, allows a plurality of belts that are secured to each other to intersect a plane of belt rotation that allows them to move together. Adopt an endless non-powered treadmill with high aspect ratio. Multiple treadmills, in this case, by passing them over multiple omnidirectional wheels that power multiple treadmills while allowing them to pass across Powered.

  Another, larger omnidirectional treadmill is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 6,099,096, which utilizes the same technical idea of attaching multiple endless treadmills together, and also like a tank tread, Make them work.

US Patent 7,780,573 US Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0022358

  Unlike the prior art as disclosed in US Pat. No. 6,057,071, which requires a large number of belts, the present invention uses a single conveyor belt and is significantly simpler in terms of characteristics and easier to manufacture. Directional treadmill. Instead of having a separate conveyor belt for each treadmill segment, the omnidirectional treadmill of the present invention utilizes a single conveyor belt. The present invention thereby eliminates the need for complex techniques to connect the end rollers to transmit the movement of one belt to the next, and therefore requires the tension of multiple belts to be adjusted separately. The advantage is that sex is excluded. This single belt is fed from one high aspect ratio cross beam to the next. All cross beams are mounted on two common roller chains located below and near the end of each beam. These common roller chains in this case move the flat track by means of a sprocket at each end.

  The cross beam attached to the roller chain is driven by a motor connected to a sprocket around which the chain circulates. This is referred to herein as the X direction. Movement in the Y direction is achieved by an omnidirectional wheel arranged adjacent to and in contact with the conveyor belt as it moves around a roller attached to the cross beam end.

  Control for the motor that powers the omnidirectional treadmill can be achieved in a variety of ways. One means is to maintain track, speed and acceleration on the treadmill in the direction of the user, and using this information to maintain a balanced state of the user as well as a state that is primarily central. An infrared detection device such as Xbox Kinect will be incorporated.

  This is probably sufficient for movement, but it deprives the user of the inertia that the user would normally feel when actually moving. For example, if you normally run at full speed and then try to stop suddenly without trying to slow down, you will naturally fall forward, or suddenly without tilting your body to change direction at full speed. If you try to change the direction, you will still fall. Of course, natural balance keeps his feet under his center of gravity so that this does not normally happen.

  However, there are only relatively small realistic movements on an omnidirectional treadmill, so the user will not tilt to change direction even when driving at high speeds, or to move backwards before stopping. There will be no need to warp your body. This will probably give the user a sense of inconsistency or slightly inconsistency.

  According to another aspect of the invention, the omnidirectional treadmill is designed to be tiltable in both the X and Y directions. The tilt control device can be connected to a speed controller, allowing the omnidirectional treadmill to be programmed to tilt in proportion to the user's small acceleration. The omnidirectional treadmill can be programmed to tilt upward in the direction of acceleration when the user increases speed and tilt downward when the speed is decreasing. Tilt and sustain as high or low as commanded. This tilting causes the user to do a bit of a bit of exercise in the direction the user is traveling or turning, just as if the user is actually accelerating his / her own weight, and the expected sensation associated with acceleration. Give to the user.

  Another or additional way of controlling the treadmill of the present invention is to utilize a dynamic control interface. The exemplary control interface described here attaches the user to the machine via a swivel harness. This attachment allows the user to bend forward, sideways, jump up and turn in some direction. It also allows for limited user movement. This movement provides the user's position and acceleration to the controller. It also allows for some kind of damping of user action to mimic inertia. A further feature of this system is that it provides a means for changing the user's apparent weight. Through the harness interface, the user can be as heavy or light as he wishes. And yet another feature is that this ensures that users do not accidentally drop out of the platform.

It is a front view of the person who stands on the treadmill comprised based on this invention. It is a top view of the treadmill of FIG. 1 based on this invention. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a treadmill according to the present invention taken in a direction parallel to the cross beam of the treadmill. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the treadmill according to the present invention in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the cross-sectional view of FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a treadmill according to the present invention taken in the same direction as FIG. 4, showing a cross beam at an intermediate position. FIG. 2 is a partial bottom view of a treadmill according to the present invention, showing a group of four cross beams. FIG. 3 is a side view of a single cross beam shown with a conveyor belt. FIG. 6 is a bottom view of four cross beams shown with a conveyor belt extending from one cross beam to the other. FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view through a cross beam at a position, showing a clip. FIG. 6 is a bottom end view of the cross beam, showing a guide bracket with an attached alignment roller. FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the cross beam end of FIG. 10 adjacent to a guide bracket taken through line DD. It is a side view of an omnidirectional wheel. It is a front view of an omnidirectional wheel. 1 is a side view of a plastic injection molded cross beam that can be used in a treadmill according to the present invention. FIG. FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of the cross beam of FIG. 13 taken through line FF at the chain attachment position. FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of the cross beam of FIG. 13 taken through line EE at a central position, showing the increased spin of the I beam. It is a top view of the treadmill which employ | adopts the gimbal for inclination operation | movement. It is a front view of the gimbal type treadmill of FIG. It is a side view of the gimbal type treadmill of FIG. FIG. 2 is a front view of a treadmill showing an attached dynamic control interface. FIG. 20 is a side view of a treadmill having the dynamic control interface of FIG. 19. FIG. 20 is a plan view of the treadmill of FIG. 19. FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a hoop-frame floating connection of a dynamic control interface. It is the schematic which shows the hoop roller attachment point of a swivel harness attachment tool. FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a scissor hoop-frame floating connection of a dynamic control interface in an expanded state. FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a scissor hoop-frame floating connection of a dynamic control interface in a degenerated state. It is a top view which shows the swivel harness assembly attached with respect to the user. FIG. 6 is a side view showing a swivel harness assembly attached to a user. It is a top view of the dynamic control interface in the state where the user is not moving. It is a top view of the dynamic control interface in the state which the user is moving to a X direction. It is a top view of a dynamic control interface in the state where a user is moving in the Y direction. It is a top view of the dynamic control interface in the state where the user is rotating.

  It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of the present invention is merely illustrative and not limiting. Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

  The structure and function of an exemplary treadmill of the present invention is shown in FIGS. The treadmill works by providing a series of cross beams 305 on two roller chains 308 (one roller chain near each end of the beam as shown in FIG. 7). The cross beam 305 may be formed of a material such as aluminum. The roller chains 308 are combined to form two parallel chains, each with a sprocket 204 at each end, and the sprocket bearings are fixed to the frame 103. The movement of these beams on the chain assembly allows movement in the X direction. For the operation in the Y direction, a single spiral wound conveyor belt 313 is employed. The conveyor belt 313 may be formed from a polyester monofilament pile with a PVC cover or equivalent material on the top surface. The conveyor belt 313 surrounds rollers 307 disposed at both ends of each beam. On the outer surface of each beam, the belt has a slight bow as indicated by reference numeral 20 so that the belt is maintained in contact along the length of the beam. This warpage (which may be about 1/2 inch) allows the cross beam 305 to deflect due to the user's weight without the conveyor belt 313 leaving the surface by the depression.

  The cross beam 305 can be easily molded from a thermoplastic material such as nylon 6/6, and can be shaped as shown in FIGS. This example provides a cross beam 305 that is low cost, lightweight, and easy to assemble.

Here, the operation of the conveyor belt 313 with respect to the cross beam 305 will be described. The conveyor belt 313 moves outside the beam and moves toward the end roller 307 . It then moves around the roller and leaves it inside. The belt 313 continues to twist while it travels between the alignment rollers 318 and then through the clip 309 leading to the cross beam 305 and then to one of the two roller chains 308 shown in FIG. start. It then turns slightly around the vertically mounted rollers, thereby slightly changing the direction of the belt towards the next cross beam, as shown in FIG. In this situation, the belt is now twisted 90 degrees. The belt then continues to twist and meets the last roller of beam 312. Each beam has two belt transfers operating at once. One of the rollers 312 is for the conveyor belt moving to the cross beam in front of the current cross beam, and the other of the rollers 312 is for the conveyor belt coming from the cross beam behind the current one. is there.

  Roller 312 redirects the conveyor belt slightly. Roller 312 allows the belt to be parallel to the cross beam but the sprocket to remain held at about the same height as the roller chain interface. The next roller 312 that the belt meets is parallel to the last but is provided on the next beam. When meeting this roller, the belt 313 is redirected slightly back. The belt 313 continues to twist when it encounters another roller 310 that allows it to rotate parallel to the longitudinal axis of the new beam. For those skilled in the art, it is clear that the conveyor belt twists 180 degrees between the two rollers 310. It then continues through the clip 309 again, followed by the alignment roller 318 with another 90 ° twist, and subsequently meets the end roller 307 of the beam. The bottom view of this conveyor belt alignment ring is as shown in FIG. This somewhat helical winding of the conveyor belt 313 is repeated for all beams. Therefore, only one (very long) endless conveyor belt is needed to achieve Y-direction operation. A vertical roller 309 is used to slightly turn the conveyor belt and the end roller (307) is moved exactly 90 ° from the length of the cross beam to allow the omnidirectional wheel to operate smoothly. It becomes possible to direct.

  When the cross beam / belt assembly is moving in the X direction, it is at the end of the flat portion of its travel range, and when the roller chain 308 meets the sprocket 204, it must subsequently rotate. The belt 313 can accomplish this. Because when moving between the cross beams at the position between the pair of rollers 312, it is the same radius 306 as the roller chain 308, so it passes between twists relative to each other as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. It is because it can be easily twisted like two cross beams.

Movement in the X direction is achieved by powering the axle coupled to the sprocket 204 by an appropriately decelerated electric motor 104. Movement in the Y direction is achieved by omnidirectional wheels 102 provided on four decelerated drive shafts 101, with each wheel 102 being pressed against a conveyor belt that pivots around end rollers 307. . Since each cross beam 305 has a roller 307 at each end, the inward pressures on these wheels cancel each other, so the magnitude of the pressure applied to each wheel can be easily increased if desired. Even so, it can be substantial enough to create enough friction to power the conveyor belt in the Y direction. The end roller / wheel interface is stabilized by the roller chain assembly on the top and by ball transfer 311 on the bottom.

  For additional support, the cross beams can be pinned together, which is accomplished by attaching a tapered rod 314a on one side of the beam to the other hole 314. This allows each cross beam to provide and obtain support from adjacent cross beams on either side, which makes the assembly behavior more uniform when the user walks on it Like this.

  Each cross beam also includes a small flange 316 that projects adjacent to the conveyor belt on one side as shown in FIG. This flange 316 serves to help prevent the belt 313 from coming off the cross beam.

  To help reduce noise and vibration, the interface side of the cross beam with locating pins may be configured with a small gap therebetween. This gap is for enabling a layer of elastic material 315 such as rubber to be attached as shown in FIG.

  The omnidirectional treadmill of the present invention can be easily mounted on a gimbal 416 or similar device, and to mimic a hill and to enable advanced motion control devices, FIGS. And as shown in FIG. 18, the linear actuator 418 can be used to tilt in any direction.

  Referring now generally to FIGS. 19, 20, and 21, a typical dynamic control interface includes a floating frame 604 with sliding attachments to four vertical tubes 601 at waist height. There is a single cable that acts on all four of the vertical tubes via pulley 602. This cable system maintains a floating frame at the same height relative to the omnidirectional treadmill. The magnitude of the vertical force applied to the floating frame can be controlled by a piston or actuator 606 connected to one of the vertical tubes 601.

  Four bearing blocks 605 slide on the floating frame, which is a means of holding the hoop via four rods 603 or other mechanisms such as four scissor coupling mechanisms 616 as shown in FIGS. 24A and 24B. Bring. Two independent cable systems consisting of pulley 607 and cable 613 connect one side of the hoop to the other side. Some system cables translate during movement in the X direction, and some system cables translate during movement in the Y direction. These systems allow the hoop to move in the Y direction without X cable translation and in the X direction without Y cable translation. The cable for each system extends through its own control unit (614 for X and 615 for Y as shown in FIGS. 26A-26D). The portion of the cable that actually extends through the control unit can be replaced by a roller chain or other means that interacts mechanically with the control unit. These units may include adjustable damping devices that give the user a sense of inertia. They can also easily provide an additional interface between the user and the omnidirectional treadmill speed control system.

The user wears a harness 616 that includes two lateral pivot points 611 in the hip position. These pins attach the harness to the pivot harness assembly 617. The pivot harness is coupled to two loop roller attachment points via a forward and backward pivot connection 612. This assembly allows the user to pivot both back and forth and sideways. FIG. 26A is a plan view of the user in a neutral position on the treadmill. The user is not moving or is in a uniform operating state. FIG. 26B is also a plan view showing the user moving in the X direction with translational movement in this direction. FIG. 26C is a plan view showing the user moving in the Y direction with translation in this direction. The assembly can also be twisted in the hoop via hoop roller 610 and cable 609, thus allowing the user to turn as shown in FIG. 26D.

  The characteristics of the dynamic control interface allow the user to feel the desired weight sensation by applying an appropriate force with the vertical actuator 606 when the user is connected. The actuator may be a pneumatic or hydraulic piston connected to a plenum pressurized with gas. By controlling the gas pressure, people on Earth can feel as if they are on the moon, or people on the moon or in space are as heavy as they want. You can feel as if you are.

  To connect to the dynamic control interface, the user first wears harness 616, then lowers the swivel harness fixture, simply advances into it, pulls it up, and to the side pivot point 611. It is necessary to fit in.

  While embodiments and applications of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is limited only by the following claims.

7 End roller 101 Drive shaft 102 Wheel 103 Frame 104 Electric motor 204 Sprocket 305 Cross beam 307 Roller 308 Roller chain 309 Clip 311 Ball transfer 312 Roller 313 Conveyor belt 314 Hole 314a Tapered rod 316 Small flange 318 Alignment roller 416 Gimbal 418 Linear Actuator 601 Vertical tube 602 Pulley 603 Rod 604 Floating frame 605 Bearing block 606 Actuator 607 Pulley 609 Cable 610 Hoop roller 611 Side pivot point 613 Cable 616 Scissor coupling mechanism 617 Pivot harness assembly 618 Harness

Claims (9)

An omnidirectional treadmill,
Frame,
A plurality of cross beams coupled together to form a continuous loop having a substantially flat top surface, each of the plurality of cross beams having an inner surface and an outer surface ;
A cross beam drive mechanism mounted on the frame and coupled to the plurality of cross beams to drive the continuous loop;
A single conveyor belt that travels from end to end of the outer surface of each cross beam and from the first end of the inner surface of each cross beam to the second of the inner surface of an adjacent cross beam; A single conveyor belt that spirals to the opposite end of the
A conveyor belt drive mechanism combined with the conveyor belt;
An omnidirectional treadmill characterized by comprising:   The plurality of cross beams are coupled to each other by being mounted on first and second drive chains, the first drive chain being provided between a first pair of sprocket wheels and the first Two drive chains are provided between a second pair of sprocket wheels, a first end of each cross beam is attached to the first drive chain, and a second end of each cross beam is The first and second pairs of opposing sprocket wheels attached to the second drive chain are each provided on a common shaft supported by an axle frame coupled to the frame. The omnidirectional treadmill according to claim 1, wherein It said cross beam drive mechanism, omnidirectional treadmill of claim 2, characterized in that the common axis ingredients Bei the concatenated drive motor to one of the previous SL sprocket wheel with.   Each cross beam has a hole formed in one surface at a selected position along its length, and a rod extending from a second surface facing the first surface at the selected position. The omnidirectional treadmill of claim 1, wherein the rod of each cross beam extends into the hole of an adjacent cross beam. The conveyor belt drive mechanisms, before Symbol omnidirectional treadmill of claim 1, characterized in that the ingredients Bei the combined belt drive motor for a single conveyor belt. 2. A tilt actuator disposed between the frame and the axle frame for tilting the substantially flat top surface of the continuous loop at an angle disposed with respect to a horizontal plane. 2. An omnidirectional treadmill according to 2.   The omnidirectional treadmill according to claim 6, wherein the axle frame is mounted on the frame at a pair of opposed pivot points.   The omnidirectional treadmill according to claim 1, further comprising a user harness attached to the frame. A dynamic control interface including a floating frame with sliding attachments to the four vertical supports and to all four of the vertical supports via pulleys so that the floating frame maintains a level for the omnidirectional treadmill A single cable to work,
An actuator connected to one of the vertical supports to control the amount of vertical force applied on the floating frame;
The omnidirectional treadmill according to claim 1, further comprising:

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